Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 2 - Maveen Offer

by David Buck

  The reports of an alien, apparently injured, on Steve’s vessel had been confirmed by the RAN. Ian noticed with interest that senior naval officers wanted the alien transferred to a frigate under guard, but he would put a stop to that nonsense.

  ‘Gregson, please get me Admiral Watson at Fleet West on the phone urgently.’

  The Prime Minister was speaking within minutes to the admiral and outlaying his concerns. Ian gave a few comparisons with US actions, and then began making recommendations after obtaining cautious agreement with Admiral Watson. He was most careful not to order the admiral at any stage. With evident satisfaction, Ian thanked the admiral for his time and hung up the phone. The issues associated with mass media involvement in this process now concerned the prime minister and he called in Gregson again.

  ‘We need to lock down the mid-west coast of WA until this matter is resolved. Does our emergency legislation cover us in this situation at all?’

  Gregson did not have to think much to answer given his considerable political experience.

  ‘Well Prime Minister if we get the Governor General and the Opposition Leader behind you then it is straightforward from a Federal level. We already have the support of the WA Premier at the state level. All up we are good to go in two hours.’

  Ian appraised Gregson’s answer with satisfaction, looked at the wall clock, and then he replied.

  ‘Okay we need to setup a media conference at 3pm with Fiona and Stuart present.’

  Gregson assured him that this would not be a problem and left the room to organize the conference. Ian now turned on his own television to study media reports of the events unfolding on the other side of Australia as he crafted his speech.

  ***

  Douglas Stoneham led his science team down the boarding ramp onto the police vessel Southern Cross. An increased police presence was evident as they had arrived at the wharves. Three news teams, with their sound and camera equipment, had stood by the entrance to the small boat harbor hoping to get permission to leave Geraldton. When Douglas and his team had arrived they had pressed forward with questions, but were not allowed past the two police officers as Douglas led his team through. As the Southern Cross left the small boat harbor and rapidly headed out to sea, Douglas and his team yet again went through their notes on the police vessel’s rear deck.

  Susan Roberts watched the Southern Cross leave with considerable disgust. Her news crew had flown up to Geraldton on a charter flight this morning and since then had struggled to get out to the Abrolhos Islands. Initially she had ranted at the indignity of not being able to do her job, until a police sergeant had become fed up with her and told her to keep quiet. Susan was already aware of one media helicopter being turned back by the Australian navy earlier that morning and was not wanting to repeat the experience herself.

  The Southern Cross was a police vessel, and in a moment of curiosity, she asked one of the two police officers where the vessel was actually headed. The officer felt there was nothing wrong in replying and stated that the Southern Cross was heading to the south west of the Abrolhos Islands. Susan stood back and though about that for a minute or two before she turned to her team.

  ‘Back into the hire car, as I have an idea or two.’

  As she drove the hire car down the marina access road, she outlaid her plan to her team, and in minutes they were heading to Dongara, a small port just south of Geraldton.

  ***

  Emeria thoroughly checked over Captain Narindestat in the ship's sick bay. She soon gave the captain instructions to sit up and don his tunic again. As she considered the initial results of the examination she voiced her opinion.

  ‘Now captain, these are only initial tests and I need to await the blood test results. But I think the infection is passing you by, and thank you again for letting me use you as a blind sample to qualify my research.’

  The captain further straightened his tunic and resisted the burning urge yet again to scratch his glimmer tattoos. If the disease was passing him by and he felt like this then he could only imagine just how ill other members of the crew currently felt. At least a few things were now going right he considered.

  For one thing, the fuel production process rate had climbed and they could possibly leave in a few days when the ship would have more than enough fuel. The water purification process had also yielded a dividend, as he now had enough fresh water to clean and disinfect whole sections of the Illuria.

  Parts of the ship also appeared to be difficult to repair, as either he did not have enough crew or the damage was evaluated incorrectly beforehand. As he looked around the sick bay, he viewed again the several sick members of crew that occupied the beds. He listened and considered Emeria’s information as she spoke again.

  ‘Captain the infections in the crew make no sense. Any one who had a respiratory illness when we first landed now seems fine. However even the youngest and healthiest of our crew have been very ill with complications to glimmer infections and to a disease the leaves random red spots on the skin and causes high temperatures. The only common factor is that the affected crew has seen a lot of exposure to the ocean water during their work.’

  Emeria glanced at her notes again as the captain replied first with an observation then a question.

  ‘Well hopefully the rate of infection will drop within three to four days. It could be worse if you refer back to the four days we have only been on this planet. Now what seems to be the best treatment for these diseases Emeria?’

  Emeria looked over as one of the sick crew members coughed loudly and a sick bay attendant paced over to tend to them.

  ‘Captain, if we can keep them rested and dry with analgesics to control pain they seem to stabilize. The risk is if they continue to work and not get treatment, which can be the way of it for some of our younger crew with a point to prove. I recommend that we dry out the ship thoroughly, and then use disinfectant and ultraviolet lamps in several areas of the ship. Also if the crew can dry out in the sunlight they seem to improve.’

  The captain watched as the sick crew member settled down to rest again then commented.

  ‘Emeria, we are still short of crew from all the repair work. But I will detail some crew members to help you take several of the ill crew outside this morning. You also mentioned another area of concern in the health of the crew?’

  Emeria fixed the captain with a resigned look and replied.

  ‘Captain, there are two points of concern actually. First I cannot guarantee that we won’t all get a fatal illness while we are on the planet. We could even transport the illness into space before it affects us all. The second concern is will the glimmer tattoos regenerate on the crew now recovering?’

  Emeria paused as her last comment received the captain’s undivided attention, then she continued.

  ‘The glimmer seems still intact but then heals to a dull dark color. However the two key features of glimmer amongst the crew appear to be disabled according to all the blood test results on the recovering crew.’

  Captain Narindestat was now really worried and his concerns about the crew before they landed on the island appeared to actually occurring. The crew was losing an important means to deal with their natural aggression, and the contraceptive aspects of the glimmer tattoos appeared to be failing. The captain was aware that this could be an explosive combination with the mixed crew of his ship.

  ***

  Steve looked over the deck of the Aurora Discovery as Garendestat continued to talk to Dan. Steve had just received a phone call from Commander Jane Walker and at times their conversation had become strained. Steve listened as Jane spoke again.

  ‘Steve, now look, I don’t like this any more than you do, but I have to obey my orders. You are to bring Garendestat to my ship as soon as possible.’

  Steve suppressed yet another urge to get irritated. He had known Jane for many years, he considered her a friend, and she was only trying to do her job. He was sure that she could understand his view as he rep
lied.

  ‘Well the actions of the Americans have really got under the skin of a lot of people. So how long before the pressure is applied? And we then march Garendestat off to a one way plane trip to the US? Also if we send him back to his ship we can start to build real dialog with the aliens.’

  Steve then listened as Jane stated what he knew she had to say.

  ‘Steve, I am not going to answer your questions. I have my orders and you are to sail towards HMAS Sydney, and make the transfer before sunset. I don’t have time to indulge you as we are expecting the islands will be declared a quarantine zone shortly. We already have been turning back news teams attempting to access the Abrolhos Islands.’

  Steve acknowledged Jane’s comment then finished the conversation. He refrained from mentioning that he did not feel compelled to do ask as she asked, as he was now hoping to buy time. Steve walked over to Dan and Garendestat, who were repeating words as they attempted to get to know and understand one another. At times the alien appeared dazed and had trouble following Dan’s efforts.

  ‘Dan, I want to show Garendestat around the ship starting with the runabouts at the forward end of the deck. Can you check on the bridge for messages and ship status for me please?’

  Dan gave Steve a perplexed look, but then excused himself and walked off to the bridge. Samantha and Rebecca had already left the rear deck to return the medical equipment to safe storage. Steve now repeated to himself the few words of the strange language he had learnt earlier, as he strode a few paces towards the front of the deck and the runabouts. Steve motioned Garendestat to follow him and ensured that the crew present was going about their duties by giving them long looks if they loitered.

  Garendestat slowly followed as Steve went to one of the runabouts and hopped into the boat as it rested in the cradle. Garendestat watched from the deck as Steve gave the descriptions of the parts of the boat. So Garendestat learned the human words for boat, motor, radio, flares and fuel tank. The young Trader was impressed with the ingenuity of the humans, as the craft looked very practical on the oceans of this world. He then looked over a large rigid card that illustrated the use of the flares, before replacing the card back inside the runabout.

  Steve picked up the boat's radio and demonstrated to Garendestat how it worked by calling the bridge in an obvious communications test. Garendestat watched and learnt the microphone needed the side button held to transmit, and that the radio had a dial with a digital display to change frequencies. At that point Garendestat remembered another feature of his view finder back now in his left pocket. The view finder carried a short range RF data interface that was in the frequency ranges for all Trader radio communications.

  Slowly he removed the view finder from his suit pocket and accessed the diagnostic screen for radio settings on the device. Once he had a continuous audio tone he leant over the side of the runabout and gave the view finder to Steve as he motioned that he wanted to access the radio display.

  Steve carefully took the strange device and turned it over in his hand. It was the weight of a large digital tablet with a viewer but more compact. After several seconds the seek function of the radio matched the channel transmitting the audio tone from the view finder and Garendestat gave a quiet grunt of satisfaction but did not pick up the radio microphone. Nonchalantly, both human and Trader made a mental note of the frequency on the radio display.

  Steve turned off the radio, handed back to view finder to Garendestat, and jumped out of the runabout. He was hoping the message would get through, and he observed Garendestat looking at the runabout thoughtfully as they headed further around the rear deck.

  ***

  Gindane had enough of reading of the various reports that filled her days, and was now watching human media channels in an attempt to learn more about the planet. She was amazed to learn that several of the media channels were not even in English, indeed a junior linguist in her crew had pointed out the haven world possibly used dozens of regional languages.

  Gindane had selected a media channel that did not break out too often to market mundane products. She could not imagine that on Barus, the thought of wasting a prime communications channel on a household product was a strange concept. The media channel seemed to have a lot of current affairs information available. The commander watched as human cameras highlighted wide spread protests in several human cities, though Gindane, with her still limited understanding of English could not follow the story easily.

  Apparently the protestors were demonstrating against unilateral actions of the most powerful country, the USA, in the oceans near a place called Australia. Australia was highlighted on a map from the media channel, and Gindane automatically checked their existing references for this area. The next news article made Gindane sit up and take real notice. The media diagram was a passable set of diagrams of both the Trader main ship and several of her sneak ships. The path of the Trader ship had taken was shown on the screen.

  After water landing, the Trader ships had made for an offshore chain of islands to the west of Australia, and then landed on a small island. Gindane made sure her recording system was getting this information set aside for later reporting and analysis. The human news report concluded by showing human surface ships now blockading these islands, and Gindane called an urgent meeting of her ships officers to further plan their next moves.

  ***

  Susan Roberts felt a wave of exhilaration that her crew shared as the fast response boat left the confines of the Dongara marina. The aluminum RIB craft was a refurbished twelve meter former patrol boat, and one of her media crew was a cousin to the latest owner of the boat.

  After a suitable amount of cash had been transferred, the boat skipper had bundled Susan and her crew onboard, and they had then raced for the open sea. The response craft was powered by a pair of 300hp outboards, and rapidly accelerated to over fifty knots as they headed due west.

  The young journalist knew that speed was only part of the plan she had discussed with the owner. They would first head due west well over the southern horizon from the two patrolling frigates. When past the line of the Abrolhos group, the boat would turn north and approach the location of the Aurora Discovery from the South West.

  With all her media crew strapped into decent shock absorbing seats in the response craft, Susan gritted her teeth and held on tight as the powerful boat crashed through the early afternoon swell.

  ***

  Chapter 4

  Garendestat was feeling hot and unwell at this stage, and the trip around the deck with Steve had left him very tired as well. He sat down under the shade and requested another bottle of cold distilled water by making a drinking motion. Within minutes a crew member had returned with a sealed bottle and Garendestat slowly drank from the bottle. He noticed that the human ship had turned and was travelling slowly east, with the sneak ship on the horizon now appearing a little closer.

  Garendestat turned to Steve who was both looking at the sneak ship and talking to another human nearby, and repeated his earlier request. ‘Ship, Steve, Ship.’ And then he pointed yet again at the distant sneak ship.

  Steve seemed to pause without providing an answer, and then he walked off without saying a word. Garendestat was at the end of his patience and he stood up to his full height and repeatedly roared.

  ‘Ship, Steve, Ship, Ship, Ship’ and gestured wildly towards the sneak ship.

  Steve stood silently and said nothing, so Garendestat picked up and donned his helmet. The act of donning the helmet certainly got the human's attention, and several other humans called out to Steve in apparent support of Garendestat’s request.

  But Steve now shook his head and said ‘No’ repeatedly.

  The crew looked at Steve for a moment, but he would not meet their eyes, and they wisely went about their duties. Steve for one was glad that Samantha was not present to see this pitiful exchange, though Rebecca had returned earlier to check further on Garendestat. She favored the alien with a smile and Steve with
a frown, but said nothing before she left again for the sick bay. Steve was sure that he did not like himself much at that particular moment, but he would not be controlled by Garendestat.

  Garendestat quickly verified the crippled condition of his space suit components and the hopeless state of the suit radio link. He was now feeling rather unwell, his legs really itched, and he felt deflated. He quietly removed and dropped the helmet to the deck, and slumped down to consider what he could possibly do next. Over to one side of the deck sat the human runabout he had been shown over earlier. ‘Not yet’ He decided to himself.

  ***

  Prime Minister Ian Ridge stood at the lectern in the still mid afternoon flanked both by the leader of the opposition and the governor general, and began his speech. For their part, the media were respectfully silent, and paid the second aboriginal prime minister of Australia the respect and close attention that was due to him.

  ‘Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, the leader of the opposition, and the governor general. We can confirm the landing yesterday of several alien ships, including what appears to be a large mother ship, at the Houtman Abrolhos Island group in Western Australia. The federal authorities have, with the agreement and assistance of the WA State Government, proclaimed a quarantine zone around the islands to take effect immediately.

  The quarantine zone will be administered at sea by the Royal Australian Navy. The navy will have the support of both Australian troops and a handful of US troops policing airports and sea ports in the Mid West area of Western Australia. These forces are to actively police the quarantine zone to prohibit civilians, including the media from intruding in the zone.